All posts tagged: Momo

MOMO Paints Massive Work Across Lobby in Boston

March 24, 2015 Artists, Interview

Corporate Space, Happy Universal Shapes, and Additive Averaging

Two unusual aspects distinguish todays’ posting. One is that the featured project by the remarkable street artist MOMO is not actually on the street, rather it is in a corporate lobby – a quasi public/private place far removed from the origins and ethos of most Street Artists’ work. Secondly, the interview is conducted by our guest Kate Gilbert rather than us. An artist, curator, and creative strategist, Kate directs a Boston non-profit that curates and produces independent public art projects. We really enjoyed the conversation that she and MOMO had while he was in the midst of a two week installation – and we knew you would like it too.

~ by Kate Gilbert

In February the Brooklyn/New Orleans street artist MOMO arrived in Boston in the midst of Snowpocalypse ‘15, an unrelenting series of snowstorms and freezing temperatures that left Boston under 93” of snow. Undaunted by it all, MOMO completed a massive 250’ x 34’ mural over eighteen nights in the lobby of Boston’s iconic John Hancock Building bringing his signature combination of blending techniques, harmonious colors and universal forms to warm up the austere lobby and its wintery surrounds.

MOMO (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

The following is an excerpt from an interview I had with MOMO on his fourteenth night of painting, which followed a brief talk he gave with project curator Pedro Alonzo.

Kate Gilbert: So it’s 20 degrees in Boston tonight and the thermometer is stuck at 20 degrees. The snow isn’t melting, and there’s ice everywhere; it’s permanent. So first of all I want to thank you for bringing this to us. It’s great color and smart design.
MOMO: Cool, I’m glad you like it.

KG: One of the things I wanted to bring back from your conversation with Pedro is this idea of universal shapes and appealing colors. That’s something we don’t usually hear coming out of the mouth of an artist who originally started in the street.
MOMO: Pedro’s first question took me off guard because I hadn’t quite heard that from anyone. He said the murals made him feel good, and why was that. I didn’t quite have an answer ready then but I’ve thought a lot about it since and it reminds me that I have this great love for David Hockney’s swimming pools. A sunny landscape has a certain key of colors and mix of shadows and this variety of things that feels like it’s at the peak spectral combination of all these formal things like shade and value, and it lets us know it’s a sunny landscape.

Something about that really appeals to me. At different moments I’ve wished my art could be associated with swimming pools, cabanas, and beach towels – those things that are, for me, a godsend in terms of mood and inspiration.

I spent a lot of time in the south and I love a tropical climate and things like that feel really alive and vital. It’s no coincidence that I take so much inspiration from Jamaica. Not just the nature there but also their culture seems to respond to this vivid set of conditions. I want to put that in the paintings and I hope that is what’s coming through in what Pedro mentioned about being happy.

MOMO (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

KG: I think so. It’s happy and, especially at this time of year in Boston, we’re all keyed in to anything that’s happy.
MOMO: Good. I realized quite late that I respond well to warm climates and it’s why I stay in the South primarily. And I do think a majority of these forms keep repeating. They’ve come up in different ways through the years.

KG: Are they forms that you’re testing on the street? When you say universal, are they universal in your artistic vocabulary, or do you think for they’re universal for all of us?
MOMO: They’re meant to be simple and universal so the audience might enjoy these as their own, being just colors and lines, spectrums and harmonies.

For instance I’m relying heavily on just the impact of red. Or the right orange-red which I feel is lit by sunlight. It’s not so much a narrative or a meaning implied on top, it’s the concrete materiality of the work that has to carry the oomph.

MOMO (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

KG: Picking up on this idea of materiality, the space has this well, let me just say, it’s pretty unique. Have you ever worked in a space like this before?
MOMO: No, this is the best architectural chance I’ve ever had to do something, indoor or outdoor.

KG: What are you responding to in this space?
MOMO: The chrome columns are undeniably weird and fun and that’s led me to make the fat lines somewhat in scale with them, or in-and-out of scale with them. There’re a lot of vertical bands. Down there [pointing to the NE side] there’re a lot of noodly ones that are just going their own way. It struck me that having a conversation with those floor-to-ceiling forms was an obvious way to respond.

MOMO (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

KG: There’s this sort of forest effect going on.
MOMO: Yeah, there’s a forest! They have a gesture. Everything in here is real straight lines and clean and feels like it’ll last for the ages. But the columns do have a gesture and it’s right in front of the painting.

Besides the columns, everything in the lobby is a super straight, flat surface. I’ve tried to play off of that with soft forms so the building can show off. I’m doing something complementary in a way.

MOMO (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

KG: You’re creating a visual conversation with the architects. I’d love to see you in a room with I.M. Pei’s office. What would you say to them?
MOMO: I’d be interesting to see how this building has grown or developed on its own because it’s probably not the way the architect left it. They’ve designed security in a way that wasn’t part of the initial pedestrian flow.

KG: There’s this great performance going on here with people entering and leaving through the security desk, even now at 6 pm.
MOMO: And cleaning crews! It takes a huge staff to keep the building up to its standards.

MOMO (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

KG: So did you consider this audience or who’d be coming and going when you were making the work?
MOMO: Yeah, of course. First thing, I tried to identify was where people would see the wall the most frequently, or where they’d spend the most time. Because the wall is framed by the columns, you get a grouping of available vignettes.

I took the ends to have special significance. At one end there are tables and chairs where you can relax in a communal café area. I thought those areas should be dressed up in a way so you could look at them for longer periods of time. Then the center, I kept things more serious and somber because it has this stately serious pretense with the check-in desk and security being there. I tried to look at the space anthropologically.

KG: So the painting in the center is more serious? Is that represented in the darker, gray pinstripes created through…what do you call it, additive averaging?
MOMO: Yes, the particular color theory we’re working with when we add these gray tones is called additive averaging. I guess they just happened in the center by chance. The center is where subtle mixes are happening and the darker colors are coming through. In general, I want the whole thing to feel light but it needed to be grounded somewhere, especially there, so it didn’t seem silly.

MOMO (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

KG: I don’t think your work could ever be interpreted as silly.
MOMO: Oh that’s good because I want to take it right to the edge like a dance performance. Certainly dance can be seen as flippant or pure whimsy. But if it is balanced and well done, somehow it can go right to the edge and still be serious.

KG: Your work is serious and I get the sense everything is very thought-out and methodical. Were there any surprises when you got here?
MOMO: We changed everything! It’s been so much work! Struggling, redesigning, you know, minutes before we go. Part of that is because we weren’t able to use the sprayers. That was my mistake in understanding how much dust they were going to dump into their surroundings. We struggled a few days trying to make it work with a spray tent and it was not possible. So without the sprayers we couldn’t do the giant sweeping color gradations.

That meant things had to be redesigned so they’d still be exciting while staying unblended. I tried to break up the backgrounds that the stripes are going over, so there’d still be a number of colors changing. It wasn’t a solution just to switch fades for single colors, because I had to break things up in a way that’d keep them interesting.

MOMO (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

KG: That sucks.
MOMO: No, it’s okay actually. Somehow the sprays that I do outdoors are a rough thing. I don’t even know if they were working that well in this refined space. It has a texture that would be a little out of step with the high-polish feeling here.

KG: As a result, have you invented any new techniques while working here?
MOMO: Oh, that’s a good question! I’m doing this thing between all of my helpers where I’m taking screenshots off of the computer where I’m designing, sending them in emails, and then we’re all following the sketches on our phones. I feel like there’s a big potential there to synch everyone up in a detailed way. I used to print everything out and keep it in a laminated pocket which is good so you don’t drop your phone in a bucket of paint, but this is kinda better.

MOMO (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

KG: So maybe there’s a MOMO app in your future?
MOMO: Or maybe I need a phablet – a phone tablet where I can do all my Photoshopping and it hangs off my neck.

KG: All right, let’s get you a sponsor! I did want to get back to that audience question. When you’re working outside doing your posters between 3 and 6 am I assume you don’t want to interact with anyone. When you’re here, are you interacting with people? Or are you just trying to get your work done?
MOMO: We’re interacting and keeping our ears open. It’s fun to just feel what the response is like. We hear a lot from the security guys because they’re here all night. It’s been really positive from those people and other people who’ve come by and have an interest in art.

MOMO (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

KG: It is really hard to take in the mural all at once. Even from the outside because of these crazy columns, multiple doors and reflections. The most similar project you’ve done might be the Living Walls project because you could only see it all from within a car. Is there a way to see this mural? A narrative?
MOMO: I think it’s a sequential piece of artwork. Because you see pieces at a time and sorta have a chance to forget the first one that you saw by the time you get to the end. There’s not a way to see the whole composition all at once. That doesn’t exist. It’s like changing panels on any other media.

The thing in Atlanta has this opportunity for foreshortening. I tried to make it interesting if you were to stand in front of it, but also it collapsed all 1,000 feet into an instant image. Here you can’t really see everything collapsed.

It’s been fun to see how much it’s reflecting on the glass inside at night. I hadn’t seen that other times I’d checked out the spot. The chrome columns cast and catch all kinds of parts in new weird ways.

KG: Yeah, it’s going to be a really fun challenge for someone to photograph! Is there anything else you’d want Boston and beyond to know about this work?
MOMO: I feel really privileged to be working here in such a great, high-level type community and given such an amazing piece of architecture to explore. I’m just extremely grateful to everyone that made this possible and extended the necessary faith. The support has been great and Pedro’s been amazing.

MOMO (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

Our special thanks to photographer Geoff Hargadon for sharing his shots of this hard-to-shoot mural for BSA readers.

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MOMO’s mural is the first in a three-part series of temporary public projects commissioned by Boston Properties and curated by Pedro Alonzo. It is on view at the John Hancock Tower (200 Clarendon Street, Boston MA 02116) now through May 31, 2015.

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Kate Gilbert is an artist, public art curator, and the director of Now and There, a new start up dedicated to creating impactful temporary public art projects in Greater Boston. When she’s not buried in snow she’s Tweeting as @kgilbertstudio and @now_and_there.

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BSA Please note: All content including images and text are © BrooklynStreetArt.com, unless otherwise noted. We like sharing BSA content for non-commercial purposes as long as you credit the photographer(s) and BSA, include a link to the original article URL and do not remove the photographer’s name from the .jpg file. Otherwise, please refrain from re-posting. Thanks!

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BSA Images Of The Week: 02.08.15

February 8, 2015 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

This week MOMO is in town and we got to see him setting up for his mini show in a bodega, Concrete to Data opened in Steinberg Museum, a cable show about Street Art arrived and was dissed horribly, POW! Wow! began in Hawaii, Combo says he was attacked in Paris for putting up a “Coexist” piece, and we all learned that Street Art is in Vogue.

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Agni, Buff Monster, Cake, EC13, Flood, James Bullough, Jilly Ballistic, LMNOPI, MOMO, UNO, and Varenka66

Top Image >> LMNOPI tribute to Jessie Hernandez. A 17 year old girl shot and killed by the Denver police last week. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Varenka66 and James Bullough collaboration in Brooklyn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Varenka66 and James Bullough collaboration in Brooklyn. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

EC13 new installation in El Padul, Spain. (photo © EC13)

MOMO at work for his solo exhibition at M. Carter Shop in Brooklyn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

MOMO. Installation in progress for his exhibition at M. Carter Shop in Brooklyn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

MOMO. Detail of the vitrine exhibiting the artist’s personal sketches, tools, diaries etc… At M. Carter Shop in Brooklyn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

MOMO is currently on view at M. Carter Shop in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. 141 Engert Ave.

Buff Monster (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jilly Ballistic (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jilly Ballistic installation for Concrete To Data at the Steinberg Museum of Art. LIU. Long Island, New York. (photo © via iPhone Jaime Rojo)

Cake installation for Concrete To Data at the Steinberg Museum of Art. LIU. Long Island, New York. (photo via iPhone © Jaime Rojo)

UNO. Rome, Italy. (photo © UNO)

Mary Had A Little Lamb. Artist Unknown. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

FLOOD recalls the Sex Pistols anthem (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Agni (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. NYC Subway. January 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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50 Ways to Map The City, Per Street and Graffiti Artists

January 21, 2015 Artists, Interview

D.I.Y. Cartography in the Rawest Section of Somerset

Street Art is intrinsically bound with its neighborhood and location in a city. Context and placement are key, establishing its relation to a place. So when a Street Artist is asked to create art about mapping a place, it is fascinating to see how they perceive it and with what manner and medium they present it.

In a new exhibition opening in London this month, the time honored study and practice of cartography ventures into the conceptual as well as the physical, and we find that for many artists the street is as much about poetry and perception as it is about aerosol and wheat-pasted paper.

Petro’s sculpture on the left with Gasisus sculpture on the right. Aryz, Ron English, Malarko, Augustine Kofie, on the background wall. Filippo Minelli on the right wall. “Mapping The City” Somerset House. London, UK. (photo © Rafa Suñen)

“Mapping the City”, now going up at the Somerset House presents the work of 50 artists whose roots lie in creating work for the urban space, one defined by paved streets configured by planners and traversed by citizenry. More than this the artists here broaden the job description of cartographer to one who captures energy, movement, emotion, imagined storylines and life paths.

With ubiquitous smart phones at the ready we increasingly find that mapping the world has become a given, removing some of its mystery. The tracking of GPS is joined by the physically surveying Google machine and countless public/private war/profit apparatus that have been loosed across and above the skin of the globe to trace all roads and streets, quantify topography, measure depths – even gauge the volume of rivers and density of forests.

Installation process shot. Gasius sculpture on the foreground. Installers working on Petros’ sculpture. Aryz, Ron English, Shepard Fairey, Malarko, Augustine Kofie, Shantell Martin, Husk MitNavn on the background wall. “Mapping The City” Somerset House. London, UK. (photo © courtesy A(by)P)

And then there are the people. “The city is a living entity,” says Rafael Schacter, curator of the show from the arts organization A(by)P, who sees the city as something far more than a clever configuration of lines. “The city changes every day, every hour of the day. It is constantly modifying itself. And it is fully alive in the way it reacts and responds to our actions. It is endlessly fascinating in the same way humans are. They can be exhausting, they can be destructive. But they contain endless possibilities too.”

It’s this same immersion into street life that draws artists to create in public, and knowing how to accept and embrace its evolution is what brings the veterans back. MOMO literally painted many streets in one continuous line that formed the letters of his nom de la rue in a 2006 tag that spread across the bottom of New York’s central island and it is presented as a map in this show.

Brooklyn Street Art: One of the artists in your show, MOMO, created an enormous tag in Manhattan – although it was only legible when the route was retraced upon a map. Is he crazy?
Rafael Schacter: He is crazy. A crazy genius. Although you still can see the marks he made on the streets of Manhattan years after he painted it! He recently re-walked the route and re-mapped the existing line. As I said; Crazy. Genius.

MOMO “Tag Manhattan” (photo © courtesy of A(by)P)

“Retracing the tag line was cool,” MOMO tells us. “What I noticed is how much new sidewalk cement has gone in – a lot of the line was eaten up by that,” he says, observing that a city is anything but static and often regenerative. “It is interesting how quickly a city replaces all of its cells,” he remarks about the ongoing repaving that characterizes the city. Were there more changes MOMO noticed in the 7 years between tagging? Yes. “Other stuff, like all the shiny new developments that are making Manhattan look like a mall.”

While there are some commonalities among the selected artists who are participating in this project, there is quite a variety of approaches to the street, as Schacter invited Street Artists, graffiti artists, public artists, designers, painters, illustrators, and billboard jammers. He says the multiplicity of interpretation was an intentional decision.

“For us, the most important thing was to have the whole range of artists we love and who are producing work in the public sphere included in the exhibition. As such, and as you say, it really is a very wide variety of artists, from graffiti bombers to conceptual artists, from muralists to urban explorers. With all of them, however, the crucial element within their practice is the public sphere, the richness of the city and urban space. This is the line that goes through all of their work, even if they may at first seem widely different.”

Chu. “Mapping The City” Somerset House. London, UK. (photo © courtesy A(by)P)

Chu, an Argentine Street Artist and muralist whose colorfully painted four paneled abstraction remixes and jumbles the lines and shapes and removes all text, his map is meant to communicate the kinetic nature of street life. “I tried to create a map of Buenos Aires marking my usual movements around the city. I am used to moving around it a lot, from one side to other, and sometimes it is really chaotic and stressful. However it is also really where I get a lot of inspiration.”

A viewer of Chu’s graphic representation may be reminded of map making software and apps – possibly because of his graphic design training and his work as an animation director and illustrator in the digital sphere. He says that his digital art experience has grafted onto his vision of the physical street, “especially because I am working with layers and some of my choices of shapes come from that experience.”

Even as a painter, you can see the influence of the digital design world in Chu’s map. He says that when he thinks of city streets, he does see in his mind an aerial view of them from up above, but there is much more.

“My artwork for the exhibition is a kind of aerial abstract view of the city,” says Chu, “When trying to understand the city street more mentally, I believe today, it is something more complex than it was before. It is like some kind of constellation or hypertext thing that grows up in all directions, with axis and tons of layers.”

CHU “Buenos Aires” (photo © courtesy of A(by)P)

Housed in a section of Somerset House that has been closed off from the public for 150 years, the new exhibit is also its first and most visitors will never have hiked through the still unpolished space. It seems like the perfectly shabby cream-colored raw environment that graff writers and Street Artists might feel comfortable making art for. “It’s in the process of happening,” says Schacter as the team moves around him and up ladders to place the maps and straddle patches of exposed wall. According to Rafael, even the ceilings of the 18^th century rooms are being restored to their original splendor, “with Yak Hair in the plaster!”

Brooklyn Street Art: Will people need to follow a map to find this show in the new wing of the Somerset House?
Rafael Schacter: Ha! Kind of. Our space hasn’t currently even got a name as it’s so new – and so old at the same time. We’re going to make big wooden arrows to make it clear but we kind of hope people get lost too, and then eventually find us!

Detail of Gasius sculpture on the foreground. LA artist Cali Thornhill De Witt displays his flag pieces in the background. “Mapping The City” Somerset House. London, UK. (photo © Rafa Suñen)

Brooklyn Street Art: Not all participants strictly adhered to the realm of cartography in the conception or execution of their map. Brad Downey appears to have drawn a face. Imagine what you would have gotten if this was a show about clouds.
Rafael Schacter: You’re right – the responses to our call for work has been super super varied. But that’s exactly what we wanted – that variety of work. We didn’t want just one understanding of the call, which was simply “map your space”. Brad’s work is about finding visuals within maps, whilst others have tried to find maps within visuals! It is all simply about a different appreciation of space from the one we see in the top down, topographic, scientific standard.

Brad Downey. Face (photo © courtesy of A(by)P)

The Brooklyn Street Artist Swoon contributed one of her iconic images of a woman whose entire form is filled with what appears to be kutis and stilt houses along winding streets from top to bottom. Based on the Thai capital Bangkok, it is an example of the inner world Swoon is known for creating, reflective of a character’s history.

Installation process shot. Swoon. “Mapping The City” Somerset House. London, UK. (photo © courtesy A(by)P)

Brooklyn Street Art: It is always interesting to see a Swoon portrait that contains the city and the streets within the body of the subject, isn’t it?
Rafael Schacter: There’s a great quote from Swoon about her work being about the desire to more carefully examine the “relationship of people to their built environment”. Her work here is a prime example of this, a work in which the body and the city become inexorably intertwined – the experience, as she says, “of becoming part of the fabric of the city” visually mapped out.

Installation process shot. Chu, Isaurao Huizar, Swoon and Mike Ballard. “Mapping The City” Somerset House. London, UK. (photo © courtesy A(by)P)

Brooklyn Street Art: Can you talk about the film/s you have discovered and will be showing that fall in with the theme of map-making?
Rafael Schacter: The films we’re going to be showing are by a filmmaker named Marc Isaacs. They’re both set in London, both exploring the lives of “ordinary” Londoners. It is a very bottom-up, grass roots understanding of people’s lives. That is exactly what we’re looking to do in the show – to explore the subjective and the hidden nature of the city.

Brooklyn Street Art: Who will be doing an artist talk about the project?
Rafael Schacter: We’re really excited about this. Our artist talk will be featuring Eltono, Filippo Minelli and Caleb Neelon. Again, a real diversity of artists and a diversity of backgrounds. Each of them have a great understanding of the public sphere and we’re excited to see what they will present.

Brooklyn Street Art: Given worldwide mapping and its ubiquity on devices we must ask this: In the future, will it be possible to get lost?
Rafael Schacter: I hope so! As the artist Itso said, and I paraphrase, true places can never be mapped.

Installation process shot. El Tono working on his sculpture. “Mapping The City” Somerset House. London, UK. (photo © courtesy A(by)P)

El Tono. “Mapping The City” Somerset House. London, UK. (photo © Rafa Suñen)

Installation process shot. Herbert Baglione on the right. El Tono on the left with EGS on the background room. “Mapping The City” Somerset House. London, UK. (photo © courtesy A(by)P)

Installation process shot. Remed. “Mapping The City” Somerset House. London, UK. (photo © courtesy A(by)P)

Installation process shot. Sixe Paredes on the left. Filippo Minelli on Center. Remed and OX on the right background room. “Mapping The City” Somerset House. London, UK. (photo © courtesy A(by)P)

Installation process shot. Detail of Filippo Minelli’s map. “Mapping The City” Somerset House. London, UK. (photo © courtesy A(by)P)

Sixe Paredes with Detail of Filippo Minelli’s map. “Mapping The City” Somerset House. London, UK. (photo © Rafa Suñen)

Detail of Cleo Peterson map. “Mapping The City” Somerset House. London, UK. (photo © Rafa Suñen)

“Mapping The City” Opens tomorrow for the general public at Somerset House in London, UK. Click HERE for schedule of events, hours, directions and other details.

PARTICIPATING ARTISTS

108 (Italy)	Aryz (Spain)
Augustine Kofie (USA)	Boris Tellegen (The Netherlands)
Caleb Neelon (USA)	Cali Thornhill Dewitt (USA)
Chu (Argentina)	Cleon Peterson (USA)
Daniel K. Sparkes (UK)	Egs (Finland)
Ekta [Daniel Götesson] (Sweden)	Eltono (France)
Erosie (The Netherlands)	Filippo Minelli (Italy)
Gold Peg (UK)	Graphic Surgery (The Netherlands)
Herbert Baglione (Brazil)	Honet (France)
Horfee (France)	HuskMitNavn (Denmark)
Ian Strange [Kid Zoom] (Australia)	Interesni Kazki (Ukraine)
Isauro Huizar (Mexico)	Isaac Tin Wei Lin (USA)
James Jarvis (UK)	Jurne (USA)
Ken Sortais [Cony] (France)	Les Frères Ripoulain (France)
Lucas Cantu (Mexico)	Lush (Australia)
Malarko (UK)	Martin Tibabuzo (Argentina)
Mike Ballard (UK)	MOMO (USA)
Nano4814 (Spain)	Nug (Sweden)
OX (France)	Pablo Limon (Spain)
Petro (UK)	Remed (France)
Remio (USA)	Roids (UK)
Ron English (USA)	Russell Maurice (UK
Shantell Martin (UK)	Shepard Fairey (USA)
Sixe Paredes (Spain)	Susumu Mukai (Japan)
Swoon (USA)	Tim Head (UK)
Vova Vorotniov (Ukraine)	Will Sweeney (UK)

Mapping the City
22 January – 15 February 2015
Somerset House, New Wing
Admission: Free

Contemporary cartographic art by international street and graffiti artists to be the first exhibition in Somerset House’s recently opened New Wing

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Please note: All content including images and text are © BrooklynStreetArt.com, unless otherwise noted. We like sharing BSA content for non-commercial purposes as long as you credit the photographer(s) and BSA, include a link to the original article URL and do not remove the photographer’s name from the .jpg file. Otherwise, please refrain from re-posting. Thanks!

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This article is also published on The Huffington Post

A Preview Of “Mapping The City” at Somerset House (LONDON)

January 15, 2015 Artists

Until you get lost in a city, you really do not know its true nature. And possibly your own.

Only at the moment of realization that you really have lost your way, your bearings, your inner compass, however temporarily, do you get a genuine sense of a place and your place in it. What are these buildings, who are these people, what is that smell, why is that horn honking, is there a bathroom nearby, do I have any money, what do I do? Perhaps even “who am I?”. No, you’re too confident and self assured for that.

MOMO “Tag Manhattan” (photo © courtesy of A(by)P)

We’ve trekked through New York City thousands of miles by now, worn out many shoes, taken countless wrong turns, and been lost numerous times. It’s part of the adventure really. Especially in the 80s when it was all new to us; cacophonic and crazy and perplexing, unnerving, and seemingly neverending. Now, even with GPS on the phone it is completely possible to get lost. And if you are not lost, you know it is your responsibility to keep your eyes open for someone who is. It’ll happen.

This week we’re excited for London folks who get to look at a map, fifty of them actually. Curated by Rafael Schacter and his collaborative arts organization named A(by)P, Mapping the City is an ingenious little bit of inspiration and conceptualizing of our sense of place.

Augustine Kofie “Overcast Angeles” (photo © courtesy of A(by)P)

Who are these maps created by? Street Artists of course, as well as others from the graffiti art scene.

And these wildcats have taken many liberties with the assignment of “please make a map”. So many in fact that some of these maps would get you lost even further if you were to consult them. But there is plenty to be learned from them nonetheless. These maps may provide valuable insights into the highways and byways of some of these artist’s brains, now that you think of it, you beguiling detective.

The inaugural exhibition opens the New Wing of Somerset House – a wing that has been closed to the public for a century and a half, or roughly the time you have to wait for a cable repair person to come to your apartment. Rafael and his team are busy installing maps right now for the January 22^nd opening, and we will have great “install” images and an interview with him next week for you to enjoy. But for right now, have a look at these examples of cartographic excellence from an international array of established and emerging artists for Mapping the City.

(full list of artists at the end of this posting)

CHU “Buenos Aires” (photo © courtesy of A(by)P)

Will Sweeney “Cabott Square” (photo © courtesy of A(by)P)

Brad Downey. Face (photo © courtesy of A(by)P)

Caleb Neelon “Pickerville” (photo © courtesy of A(by)P)

Shepard Fairey “Berlin Tower” (photo © courtesy of A(by)P)

Jurne “Covalence” (photo © courtesy of A(by)P)

Mike Ballard “The Ultra Poet” (photo © courtesy of A(by)P)

Goldpeg “London is Burning” (photo © courtesy of A(by)P)

Cleon Peterson “The Return” (photo © courtesy of A(by)P)

Aryz “Map” (photo © courtesy of A(by)P)

OX “Paris” (photo © courtesy of A(by)P)

PARTICIPATING ARTISTS

108 (Italy)	Aryz (Spain)
Augustine Kofie (USA)	Boris Tellegen (The Netherlands)
Caleb Neelon (USA)	Cali Thornhill Dewitt (USA)
Chu (Argentina)	Cleon Peterson (USA)
Daniel K. Sparkes (UK)	Egs (Finland)
Ekta [Daniel Götesson] (Sweden)	Eltono (France)
Erosie (The Netherlands)	Filippo Minelli (Italy)
Gold Peg (UK)	Graphic Surgery (The Netherlands)
Herbert Baglione (Brazil)	Honet (France)
Horfee (France)	HuskMitNavn (Denmark)
Ian Strange [Kid Zoom] (Australia)	Interesni Kazki (Ukraine)
Isauro Huizar (Mexico)	Isaac Tin Wei Lin (USA)
James Jarvis (UK)	Jurne (USA)
Ken Sortais [Cony] (France)	Les Frères Ripoulain (France)
Lucas Cantu (Mexico)	Lush (Australia)
Malarko (UK)	Martin Tibabuzo (Argentina)
Mike Ballard (UK)	MOMO (USA)
Nano4814 (Spain)	Nug (Sweden)
OX (France)	Pablo Limon (Spain)
Petro (UK)	Remed (France)
Remio (USA)	Roids (UK)
Ron English (USA)	Russell Maurice (UK
Shantell Martin (UK)	Shepard Fairey (USA)
Sixe Paredes (Spain)	Susumu Mukai (Japan)
Swoon (USA)	Tim Head (UK)
Vova Vorotniov (Ukraine)	Will Sweeney (UK)

Mapping the City
22 January – 15 February 2015
Somerset House, New Wing
Admission: Free

Contemporary cartographic art by international street and graffiti artists to be the first exhibition in Somerset House’s recently opened New Wing

BSA Picks 19 Things to See at DUMBO ARTS FEST 2014

September 27, 2014 Artists

New York Clobbers Fall again and one of the finest examples of art in the public sphere has again returned to swing the aesthetic bat straight at your head with the DUMBO ARTS FESTIVAL.

With it comes the electrifying Brooklyn energy that transforms the street into a place you actually want to be in, linger in, discover in. Smack between two iconic Bridges (Brooklyn and Manhattan) DUMBO boasts a world class art festival that has grown both organically and with great purpose, often commanding your attention.

You can make a plan to hit a few installations, performances, galleries… — or you can just show up and grab a map.

Above image is of artist CHIKA’s large scale interactive LED sculpture in the archway under the Manhattan Bridge. More on her SEI: Stella Octangula HERE.

Following are some BSA picks that we think are worth highlighting:

1. FOLIOLEAF GALLERY. “Bad Vibes” Rubin415 and David Head.

A solid mix of new contemporary work that leans toward popular tastes, Folioleaf is making a strong showing with a growing stable that includes a number of current Street Artist like DAIN, Gilf! (image above), Hellbent, and others that are tangentially related. Street Art culture is a wide world and gallery owner Todd Masters is stretching his arms to embrace it.

111 Front Street, Suite 226.

http://folioleaf.com/

2. SIDE HUSTLE NYC: “By Day, By Night” Karoleen Decastro, Alyssa Gruen, Patrick Ramos, Jon Chen.

What is your sidehustle? In the ever more expensive NYC game, almost every creative we know has one – Check out this installation and on Sunday they will have another photo shoot.

Plymouth Street Park Perimeter Fence.

http://sidehustlenyc.com/

3. Dumbo Underfoot”. Karen Mainenti

Mainenti draws your attention to the actual street in this installation highlighting those rail tracks cutting through the neighborhood that were used by Brooklyn industries and trades like coffee, soap bubbles, sugar, shoes and Brillo steel wool pads.

See MORE here.

Plymouth Street (between Main and Washington Streets)

http://www.karenmainenti.com

DUMBO WALLS – All over the place

Two Trees and Lisa Kim have humanized the experience year long for people working/living/passing through DUMBO by curating some large mural installations by some great Street Artists over the past couple of years. Below are a few to keep your eyes open for on the streets.

4. DUMBO WALLS: Faith 47

Pearl Street Underpass, BQE,

http://www.faith47.com

Brooklyn-Street-Art-Daleast-740-by-day-by-night-collage

5. DUMBO WALLS: dalEAST

Pearl Street Underpass, BQE

http://www.daleast.com/

Brooklyn-Street-Art-EL-TONO-740-by-day-by-night-collage

6. DUMBO WALLS: El Tono

Corner of Prospect and Jay Streets

http://www.eltono.com

Brooklyn-Street-Art-CAM-740-by-day-by-night-collage

7. DUMBO WALLS: CAM

York Street (between Adams and Pearl Streets)

http://www.craiganthonymiller.com

Brooklyn-Street-Art-MOMO-740-by-day-by-night-collage

8. DUMBO WALLS: MOMO

York Street (between Washington and Adams Streets)

http://www.momoshowpalace.com

9. DUMBO WALLS: Shepard Fairey

Corner of York and Jay Streets

http://www.obeygiant.com

10. DUMBO WALLS: Stefan Sagmeister & Yuko Shimizu

Jay Street Underpass, BQE

http://www.sagmeisterwalsh.com

http://www.yukoart.com

Brooklyn-Street-Art-A-la-cart-smackmellon-740-by-day-by-night-collage

11. SMACK MELLON:

Á la Cart with Kristyna and Marek Milde

“If we are what we eat, who are we if we don’t know the origin and the context of the production of our food?”

Originally created for Smack Mellon’s exhibition FOODShed: Art and Agriculture in Action –

6 shopping carts filled with soil parked at Old Fulton Plaza.

Smack Mellon Gallery
92 Plymouth Street, Brooklyn
http://www.smackmellon.org
http://www.estebandelvalle.com

12. Global Virtual Drawing Party: DADA featuring EN MASSE

At the Festival, creators from around the world will be encouraged to draw on DADA, while artists on site will respond using their iPads. The results will be projected live.

1 Main Street, Festival Lounge

http://enmasse.info

http://www.dada.am

13. MIGHTY TANAKA: “Here and There”. Chris Otley, Herb Smith

Which one are you?

Together, they explore the impact between native and invasive species within both of their local communities.

111 Front Street, Suite 224, Brooklyn

http://www.mightytanaka.com

14. “I ____ a Dollar” . Jody Servon

Main Street (between Plymouth and Water Streets)

http://www.jodyservon.com

15. BE MIGHTY! SPACE: LA2/LA ROC

“LA2, aka LA ROC, collaborated with Keith Haring to create iconic NYC street art in the ’80s. LA2 is part of the original street art movement, and a godfather of the scene. His work is highly sought after for its iconic nature and history. This exhibit will showcase some of the classic styles that LA2 is known for, along with his new work that pushes the style into a more contemporary realm. On display will be works on canvas, wood, and an assortment of objects.”

80 John Street

http://www.la2graffitiartist.com

https://www.dynomighty.com

16. MASTERS PROJECTS: “Lost Corcosa” . Various Artists

The largerer and higher ender version of FolioLeaf , this the MASTERS PROJECTS. oof!

Peter Buechler, DAIN, Dee Dee, ELLE, Amze Emmons, Dima Gavrysh, gilf!, Nicolas Holiber, Steven Katzman, Karl Klingbiel, Amanda Marie, Timothy Paul Myers, QRST, RAE, Jon Rappley, Joram Roukes, Shin-Shin, Cris Uphues, Nathan Vincent, Charles Wilkin, X-O.

111 Front Street, Suite 212

http://www.maste.rs

17. REFLECTION / KOLONIHAVEHUS . Tom Fruin and CoreAct

“The colorful glass house is inhabited by two performers, who portray everyday dilemmas and lifestyle paradoxes in a subtle manner. They have lost the ability to meaningfully discriminate, and are trapped in a long chain of procrastination, mirroring our current social patterns. As an audience you can wonder in and out of the performance as you like. “

Empire Fulton Ferry Deck

http://www.tomfruin.com

http://www.coreact.dk

18. “TRUST YOUR VISION” . Gilf!

Front Street (between Adams and Pearl Streets)

http://www.gilfnyc.com

This installation on BSA

19 . MPH-BENCH . Lee Mandell, XAM

MPH-BENCH is an indoor and/or outdoor furniture piece created using the idea of adaptive reuse. We like the fact that this hydroponic bentch can be whe bench can be wheeled around to fit into various aesthetic environments – Mobile agriculture!

1 Main Street, Festival Lounge
http://www.xambuilt.com
http://www.boswyckfarms.org

BONUS!*** TRUFFULA LORAXIA . Lee Mandell, XAM

Truffula Loraxia is a hydroponic sculpture project created by Lee Mandell and XAM. It combines growing technologies with design. Truffula Loraxia’s basic structure is a tree, which extends from a dodecahedron shaped base.

Main Street Park

http://www.xambuilt.com

http://www.boswyckfarms.org

For a complete schedule of events, maps and other details click HERE

Bien Urbain 2014 in Besançon, France

July 16, 2014 Artists

Artistic Routes Through and with Public Spaces

The month long 4th Edition of Bien Urbain just wrapped in Besançon, France and the results are predictably rather awesome due to the quality of the work, the site selections, and the integrated nature of the entire presentation. “It is not about designing an open-air art gallery or about decorating the town,” say the organizers, and maybe that is why each artist seems to consider the whole before devising his or her addition to it.

MOMO. Bien Urbain 4th Edition. Besançon, France. 2014. (photo © MOMO)

BSA has been tracking Bien Urbain since its introduction and each time the collection of artists is thoughtfully selected, with each helping to define and refine the measure of public art without the trite pleasantries of commercially sponsored festivals nor stultifyingly bland results of design by municipal committee.

Whether purely modernist (MOMO), cerebral (Brad Downey) or poetic (Pastel), the contributions to Bien Urbain are more edifying than edifice and enable one to experience “artistic routes through and with public spaces,” as the festivals’ motto intones.

MOMO. Bien Urbain 4th Edition. Besançon, France. 2014. (photo © Quentin Coussirat)

MOMO. Detail. Bien Urbain 4th Edition. Besançon, France. 2014. (photo © L’Saint Hiller)

MOMO. Bien Urbain 4th Edition. Besançon, France. 2014. (photo © MOMO)

Argentinian muralist Jaz chose the old citadel of Besançon (below) to pay tribute to his hosts and perhaps because his mind was on the World Cup, he also created a sepia-toned version of the Boca football club stadium in Buenos Aires. Bien Urbain 4th Edition. Besançon, France. 2014. (photo © Quentin Coussirat)

Jaz. Bien Urbain 4th Edition. Besançon, France. 2014. (photo © Elena Murcia Artengo)

Jaz. Bien Urbain 4th Edition. Besançon, France. 2014. (photo © Quentin Coussirat)

Jaz also brought a pair of wrestlers to end cap this building. Bien Urbain 4th Edition. Besançon, France. 2014. (photo © Quentin Coussirat)

Ever (or EverSiempre) was a surprise guest this year and immediately took over a space with his allegorical forms and flowing fabrics. Bien Urbain 4th Edition. Besançon, France. 2014. (photo © David Demougeot)

Elian. Bien Urbain 4th Edition. Besançon, France. 2014. (photo © Elena Murcia Artengo)

Brad Downey. Bien Urbain 4th Edition. Besançon, France. 2014. (photo © Quentin Coussirat)

The American artist Brad Downey made a couple of interventions with existing materials in the Battant neighborhood. Brad Downey. Bien Urbain 4th Edition. Besançon, France. 2014. (photo © Brad Downey)

Zosen & Mina Hamada. Bien Urbain 4th Edition. Besançon, France. 2014. (photo © Quentin Coussirat)

Zosen & Mina Hamada. Bien Urbain 4th Edition. Besançon, France. 2014. (photo © Naara Bahler)

“It’s based on a poem for Victor Hugo ‘Les feuilles d`automne’ 1831,” says artist Pastel. Bien Urbain 4th Edition. Besançon, France. 2014. (photo © Elena Murcia Artengo)

Pastel. Bien Urbain 4th Edition. Besançon, France. 2014. (photo © Quentin Coussirat)

OX. Bien Urbain 4th Edition. Besançon, France. 2014. (photo © OX)

Graphic Surgery. Bien Urbain 4th Edition. Besançon, France. 2014. (photo © Graphic Surgery)

Graphic Surgery. Detail. Bien Urbain 4th Edition. Besançon, France. 2014. (photo © Chloe Cura)

The Paris based collective Les Freres Ripoulain created this variation on the typical children’s rocking toy . Bien Urbain 4th Edition. Besançon, France. 2014. (photo © Mathieu Tremblin)

Les Freres Ripoulain. Bien Urbain 4th Edition. Besançon, France. 2014. (photo © Mathieu Tremblin)

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This article is also published on The Huffington Post

The Power of Color via Street Art, Graffiti, and Murals

February 5, 2014 Artists

No doubt it is the grey days of late winter that is making us think about this as we brace for the next snowstorm, but today we’re considering the impact that Street Art color has on architecture that never asked for it.

We’re not the first to think of hues, shades, tones, and palettes when it comes to the man made environment of course, but it does strike us that most of the buildings that are hit up by street art and murals today were designed by architects who never imagined art on their facade.

Os Gemeos in Boston. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Modern architecture for some reason is still primarily grey, washed out greens, beige, eggshell, snore.

“Color is something that architects are usually afraid of,” said internationally known and awarded architect Benedetta Tagliabue in an interview last May about the topic of color. A generalization probably, and you can always find exceptions of colorfully painted neighborhoods globally like the Haight in San Francisco, La Boca in Buenos Aires, Portafino in Italy, Guanajuato in Mexico, Bo-Kaap in Capetown, the favelas of Rio de Janeiro and the Blue City of India, but many of those examples speak to color blocking and pattern.

Interesni Kazki in Baltimore. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

We’ve been looking at the power of Street Art to reface, re-contextualize, re-energize, and re-imagine a building and its place in the neighborhood. Some times it is successful, other times it may produce a light vertigo. The impact of work on buildings by today’s Street Artists and muralists depends not only on content and composition but largely on the palette they have chosen. It sounds trite, and self-evident perhaps, but much of Street Art is about color, and primarily on the warm scale first described by Faber Birren with his OSHA colors and color circle in the 1930s .

Faile in Manhattan, NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Birren developed his color system with the observation that artists favor the warm colors more than the cold, from the violet side of red and extending beyond yellow because “, their effect is more dynamic and intense and because the eye can, in fact, distinguish more warm colors than cold.”

It’s common now to think of 21st century Street Art as the graffiti-influenced practice that primarily activates the detritus of the abandoned industrial sector blighting western cities in the wake of trade agreements that sent all the jobs to lands without protections and regulations. While that is definitely the sort of neglected factory architecture preferred for “activation” by many graffiti artists and Street Artists alike, we also see more curious couplings of color with the delicately ornate, the regal, or even modernist structures today thanks to artists being invited, rather than chased.

Shepard Fairey in Manhattan, NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The results? Abstractionist, cubist, geometric, letter-based, illustrative, figurative, text-based, outsider, folk, dadaist, pop. One common denominator: color.

“The environment and its colors are perceived, and the brain processes and judges what it perceives on an objective and subjective basis. Psychological influence, communication, information, and effects on the psyche are aspects of our perceptual judgment processes,” writes Frank H. Mahnke in his recent piece for Archinect. The author of Color, Environment, & Human Response has made it his mission to explore psychological, biological effects of color and light and to help creators of the man-made environment make good choices.

Whether all of these choices are good, we leave up to you. But it is worth considering that Street Artists have been part of the conversation on the street for decades now, making powerful suggestions to architects and city planners , so maybe it’s worth taking another look at what they’ve been up to lately.

Ever in Baltimore. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Escif in Atlanta. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kenton Parker and Roa in Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

LUDO in Chicago. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Anthony Lister in Los Angeles. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kobra in Manhattan, NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Smells, Cash4 and Spiro in Brooklyn, NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Don Rimx in El Barrio. Harlem, NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Agostino Iacurci in Atlanta. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Barry McGee in Brooklyn, NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jaz and Cern in Brooklyn, NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Pose and Revok in Manhattan, NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rime, Dceve and Toper in Manhattan, NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Pixel Pancho in Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Deeker and David Pappaceno in Brooklyn, NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Reka in Brooklyn, NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

RRobots in Brooklyn, NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

MOMO in Brooklyn, NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Skewville in Brooklyn, NYC with an old NEKST tag on top. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

3ttman and Elias in Atlanta. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Chris Stain and Billy Mode tribute to Martha Cooper in Brooklyn with ROA on the water tank. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rubin in Brooklyn, NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Os Gemeos in Manhattan, NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

JMR in Brooklyn, NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Greg LaMarche in Brooklyn, NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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This article was also published on The Huffington Post

The 2013 BSA Year in Images (VIDEO)

December 18, 2013 Artists

Here it is! Our 2013 wrap up featuring favorite images of the year by Brooklyn Street Art’s Jaime Rojo.

Before our video roundup below here is the Street Art photographer’s favorite of the year, snapped one second before he was singled out of a New York crowd, handcuffed, and stuffed into a police car – sort of like the Banksy balloons he was capturing.

“Among all the thousands of photos I took this year there’s one that encapsulates the importance of Street Art in the art world and some of the hysteria that can build up around it,” he says of his final shot on the final day of the one month Better Out Than In artist ‘residency’ in NYC this October. It was a cool day to be a Street Art photographer – but sadly Rojo was camera-less in a case of mistaken identity, if only for a short time.

Released two hours later after the actual car-jumping trespasser was charged, Rojo was happy to hear the Chief Lieutenant tell his officer “you’ve got the wrong man”, to get his shoelaces back, and to discover this photo was still on his camera. He also gets to tell people at parties that he spent some time in the holding cell with the two guys whom New York watched tugging down the B-A-N-K-S-Y.

What’s everybody looking at? Jaime Rojo’s favorite image of the year at the very end of the Banksy brouhaha. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Now, for the Video

When it came to choosing the 112 images for the video that capture the spirit of the Street Art scene in ’13, we were as usual sort of overwhelmed to comb through about ten thousand images and to debate just how many ‘legal’ versus ‘illegal’ pieces made it into the mix. Should we include only images that went up under the cover of the night, unsanctioned, uncensored, uncompromised, unsolicited and uncommissioned? Isn’t that what Street Art is?

Right now there are a growing number of legal pieces going up in cities thanks to a growing fascination with Street Art and artists and it is causing us to reevaluate what the nature of the Street Art scene is, and what it may augur for the future. You can even say that from a content and speech perspective, a sizeable amount of the new stuff is playing it safe – which detracts from the badass rebel quality once associated with the practice.

These works are typically called by their more traditional description – murals. With all the Street Art / graffiti festivals now happening worldwide and the growing willingness of landlords to actually invite ‘vandals’ to paint their buildings to add cache to a neighborhood and not surprisingly benefit from the concomitant increase in real estate values, many fans and watchers have been feeling conflicted in 2013 about the mainstreaming that appears to be taking place before our eyes. But for the purposes of this roundup we decided to skip the debate and let everybody mix and mingle freely.

This is just a year-end rollicking Street Art round-up; A document of the moment that we hope you like.

Ultimately for BSA it has always been about what is fresh and what is celebrating the creative spirit – and what is coming next. “We felt that the pieces in this collection expressed the current vitality of the movement – at least on the streets of New York City,” says photographer and BSA co-founder Rojo. It’s a fusillade of the moment, complete with examples of large murals, small wheat pastes, intricate stencils, simple words made with recycled materials or sprayed on to walls, clay installations, three dimensional sculptures, hand painted canvases, crocheted installations, yarn installations etc… they somehow captured our imaginations, inspired us, made us smile, made us think, gave us impetus to continue doing what we are doing and above all made us love this city even more and the art and the artists who produce it.

Brooklyn Street Art 2013 Images of the Year by Jaime Rojo includes the following artists;

A Dying Breed, Aakash Nihalini, Agostino Iacursi, Amanda Marie, Apolo Torres, Axel Void, Bagman, Bamn, Pixote, Banksy, B.D. White, Betsy, Bishop203, NDA, Blek le Rat, br1, Case Maclaim, Cash For Your Warhol, Cholo, Chris RWK, Chris Stain, Billy Mode, Christian Nagel, Cost, ENX, Invader, Crush, Dal East, Damien Mitchell, Dase, Dasic, Keely, Deeker, Don’t Fret, The Droid, ECB, el Seed, El Sol 25, Elbow Toe, Faile, Faith 47, Five Pointz, Free Humanity, Greg LaMarche, Hot Tea, How & Nosm, Icy & Sot, Inti, Jilly Ballistic, John Hall, JR, Jose Parla, Judith Supine, Kremen, Kuma, LMNOPI, London Kaye, Love Me, Martha Cooper, Matt Siren, Elle, Mika, Miss Me, Missy, MOMO, Mr. Toll, Nychos, Okuda, Alice Mizrachi, OLEK, Owen Dippie, Paolo Cirio, Paul Insect, Phetus, Phlegm, Revok, Pose, QRST, Rambo, Ramiro Davaro, Reka, Rene Gagnon, ROA, RONES, Rubin, bunny M, Square, Stikki Peaches, Stikman, Swoon, Tristan Eaton, The Lisa Project 2013, UFO 907, Willow, Swill, Zed1, and Zimer.

Read more about Banksy’s last day in New York here and our overview of his residency in the essay “Banksy’s Final Trick” on The Huffington Post.

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Boffo MOMO in DUMBO

August 13, 2013 Artists

We’ve been shooting and documenting Street Art in Brooklyn for over a decade now so it is a sweet sight to see more artists getting opportunities like the new program by Two Trees Management that is coming online. Of course BSA has curated legal walls around town for artists many times and we created the first Street Art projection show in DUMBO (Projekt Projektor) five years ago, but when an innovative developer with a track record for engendering an arts community gets involved, its a new scale and one with a far greater possibility for engagement of people in public space.

For the improvement district that comes under its auspicious, Street Artists (and other visual artists) are invited to regale the DUMBO walls with as great a vision as they care to present and this time the whole experience could be transformational, if the quality and the mix is handled just right. As the former neighborhood of Williamsburg is similarly evolving, can’t you just see a second wave, a renaissance of Street Art that pays tribute to the first one we’ve been documented since the turn of the century?

Today we show you new work of Street Artist/Fine Artist and 21^st Century maximalist MOMO has been bathing a swath of brick with washes of hue and precisely percolating pattern while wielding the scissor lift just below the boisterous Brooklyn Queens Expressway for the last week or so, and the results are brighter and punchier than we are accustomed to – which will be good for those week-long grey patches we must endure in the BK sometimes. We last were with MOMO as he was banging out a huge wall in Baltimore, and it is good to see this talent back in Brooklyn where he once lived, but this nomad will only alight for a short time before swimming to his next exploration.

Keep your eyes open for further developments. You know we will.

Craig Anthony Miller (aka CAM)

“Hecho En Oaxaca” Indoors and On The Street

August 5, 2013 Artists

“Made in Oaxaca” Shifts Street Art Eyes to Historic Mexican City

Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Oaxaca (MACO) Show Features Pedro Alonzo and Friends

Already a cultural capital of a quarter million, the city of Oaxaca itself is a World Heritage Site and sits six miles east of Monte Albán, the Zapotecs city that is traced back to 500 BC. For MACO to invite curator Pedro Alonzo to create a show inside and outside on the streets is a stroke of inspiration and the quality of the selection of artists for the exhibition only confirms the inspiration.

Swoon. Hecho En Oaxaca. Oaxaca, Mexico. July 2013. (photo @ Roberto Shimizu)

Today on BSA Roberto Shimizu, who owns and oparates MUJAM (Antique Toy Museum of Mexico), shares with us the images he took while checking out the installations last month on the street and in the museum. Roberto has invited a number of Street Artists to Mexico City in the past to create works and to participate in community-building projects so he was very excited to learn about this pretty remarkable event happening so near to him.

“We heard that great Street Artists from around the world were having an exhibition only two days before the opening so I made the six hour trip from Mexico City with my girlfriend and two other friends the following day. Some of the best artists in the world from México, Brazil, Germany, Italy, USA and the magical Oaxaca itself gathered in the streets of this beautiful colonial town to leave striking pieces of public art,” he says.

The list includes Date Farmers, Dr. Lakra, How & Nosm, Lapiztola, MOMO, Nunca, Retna, Saner, StenLex, Swoon, Vhils, and Yescka and represents a nice blend of local and international. “To see the How & Nosm twins painting those perfect lines and then turn your head and look into Santo Domingo´s Cathedral is something that made this adventure worth it,” Roberto tells us. “Seeing Swoon posting over top some RETNA calligraphy was also an “historic” moment.”

Swoon. Installation in Progress. Hecho En Oaxaca. Oaxaca, Mexico. July 2013. (photo @ Roberto Shimizu)

Swoon. Installation in progress. Hecho En Oaxaca. Oaxaca, Mexico. July 2013. (photo @ Roberto Shimizu)

Swoon. Installation in progress in collaboration with RETNA. Hecho En Oaxaca. Oaxaca, Mexico. July 2013. (photo @ Roberto Shimizu)

RETNA at work on his wall. Hecho En Oaxaca. Oaxaca, Mexico. July 2013. (photo @ Roberto Shimizu)

How & Nosm. Hecho En Oaxaca. Oaxaca, Mexico. July 2013. (photo @ Roberto Shimizu)

Saner at work on his wall. Hecho En Oaxaca. Oaxaca, Mexico. July 2013. (photo @ Roberto Shimizu)

Dr. Lakra at work on his wall. Hecho En Oaxaca. Oaxaca, Mexico. July 2013. (photo @ Roberto Shimizu)

MUSEUM INSTALLATIONS

La Piztola. Detail. Hecho En Oaxaca. Oaxaca, Mexico. July 2013. (photo @ Roberto Shimizu)

Date Farmers. Detail. Hecho En Oaxaca. Oaxaca, Mexico. July 2013. (photo @ Roberto Shimizu)

Dr. Lakra. Hecho En Oaxaca. Oaxaca, Mexico. July 2013. (photo @ Roberto Shimizu)

RETNA. Hecho En Oaxaca. Oaxaca, Mexico. July 2013. (photo @ Roberto Shimizu)

NUNCA. Hecho En Oaxaca. Oaxaca, Mexico. July 2013. (photo @ Roberto Shimizu)

How & Nosm. Hecho En Oaxaca. Oaxaca, Mexico. July 2013. (photo @ Roberto Shimizu)

Sten & Lex. Hecho En Oaxaca. Oaxaca, Mexico. July 2013. (photo @ Roberto Shimizu)

Yescka. Hecho En Oaxaca. Oaxaca, Mexico. July 2013. (photo @ Roberto Shimizu)

Swoon. Detail. Hecho En Oaxaca. Oaxaca, Mexico. July 2013. (photo @ Roberto Shimizu)

For further information regarding this exhibition click HERE.

With much gratitude with Roberto Shimizu, Director of Museo Del Juguete Antiguo De Mexico, MUJAM for his photos.

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Bushwick Is Hot Now. Hurry!

May 29, 2013 Artists

Bushwick Open Studios is Paved With Street Art

Brooklyn’s already percolating artists neighborhood called Bushwick continues to thrive despite the circling of real estate agents, lifestyle brands and celebrity chefs. Born in the mid-late 2000s as it’s older sister Williamsburg to the West began to professionalize, this noisily industrial and dirty artists haven got a reprieve from gentrifying forces when the deep recession slowed the rise of rents for artist spaces, which remained still relatively cheap by Manhattan’s standards. Today the area boasts a diverse influx of artists, students, cultural workers, and entrepreneurs who are experimenting and collaborating on projects and shows.

That radical economic downturn probably also nurtured the nascent Street Art scene here, which was one of the early outliers of a cultural influx as artists and explorers began to skateboard to the local delis and stare at laptops for hours in the one or two cafes that offered Wi-Fi. Outcroppings of this new art movement combined with old-school graffiti to pop up on selected concrete and corrugated walls, signposts, and deteriorated blocks where the authorities were disinterested and the neighbors only partially curious in their activities.

It’s an age-old New York story by now; a neglected or winding down post industrial neighborhood reacts to the incoming and odd-looking artists with a sort of bemused affection, happy that at least the block is getting some attention for a change. Puzzlement eventually leads to familiarity and then buying you a sandwich – and then asking you to paint a mural inside his foyer. While national and international Street Artists were already making Bushwick a stopping point thanks to some of the earliest galleries like Ad Hoc and Factory Fresh, the scene recently got newly shot in the arm by a local resident who is facilitating much desired legal wall space to a crowd of artists who otherwise would be hunting and hitting up less-than-legal spots. Not to worry, there are plenty of aerosol renegades and ruffians scaling walls at night too; this is New York after all, yo.

But for now the Bushwick Collective, as it is newly christened by wall-man Joe Ficalora, has infused an adrenaline rush of creativity inside and outside the area that is roughly bordered by Flushing Avenue, Starr Street, Knickerbocker Avenue and Cypress Avenue. The Collective has guidelines on content (nudity, politics, profanity) so the works are not completely unfettered in the true spirit of Street Art/graffiti, but most artists are happy for the luxury of time to complete their work and not look over their shoulder. With a selection of murals that are densely gathered and easy to walk through, the new collection has attracted attention from media folks (and tour guides) on the main island brave enough to venture into the gritty wilds of Brooklyn for a Street Art safari.

As Bushwick hosts its 7^th annual open studios cultural event this weekend, intrepid pedestrians who march through opening parties, rooftop DJ jams, dance performances, live bands, transcendent costumery, sidewalk barbecues, open fire hydrants and more than 600 open artist studios will also be buffeted by a visual feast on the streets themselves. As long as the L Train is running (fingers crossed) you can just get off at the Morgan stop. From there it should be pretty easy for any curious art-in-the-street fan to be regaled with big and small works of graffiti, Street Art, tags, wheat-pastes, stencils, rollers, murals, and ad hoc installations all day and night.

A shout out to Arts In Bushwick, an all volunteer organization that has steadily grown and fostered an open sense of community inclusiveness each year for Bushwick Open Studios and to the many volunteers who have contributed greatly to the success of many of the cultural workers here. Without an open studios event many of these shy and quirky artists and performers would simply have stayed unknown and unknowable.

So far Bushwick still has the unbridled imperfect D.I.Y. enthusiasm of an experiment where anything can happen, but grey ladies with kooky bright colored spectacles have already begun to flip it over to inspect it with one hand while pinching their nose with the other, so savor this authentic moment. Ethereal by nature, you know the Street Art scene is never guaranteed to you tomorrow – neither is the mythical artists bohemian hamlet of New York’s yesteryear. For now we’re hopping on our bikes to catch a golden age of Bushwick before it’s repackaged and sold back to us at a price we can’t afford.

The first series of images are walls from the Bushwick Collective, followed by a series of walls that you may also see in the neighborhood.

Here are a series of walls not related to Bushwick Collective.

For a full list of activities, studios, schedules and directions for Bushwick Open Studios 2013 click HERE.

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BSA Film Friday: 04.05.13

April 5, 2013 Artists

Our weekly focus on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities.

Now screening: ROA in Cambodia, MOMO and El Tono Snap Your Attention in France, Conor Harrington in Norway, and Shepard Fairey in London for “Sound and Vision”

BSA Special Feature:
ROA: A Trip to Cambodia

Street Art and Skateboarding – What’s not to like?

Presented by The SK8room, here is a brand new video of Street Artist ROA. Twenty percent of all sales that come from this campaign will be donated to Skateistan, a not-for-profit that teaches empowerment through skateboarding to children in impoverished countries like Afghanistan and Cambodia.

You may remember some of these images from our posting

ROA in Mexico, Gambia, and Cambodia on September 13, 2012

MOMO and El Tono Snap Your Attention in France

Experimenting a little with a revolutionary new painting contraption, here are two of the modern minimalists on the Street Art scene today demonstrating how to paint with a snap line in Besançon.

Old Norse: Conor Harrington’s trip to Vardo, Norway

A short poetic film by Andrew Telling documenting Conor Harrington’s trip to Vardø, Norway, with some incidental paintings thrown in to remind you why you started watching. The sumptous, stunning score by Lucinda Chua leads your mind into a Nordic trance.

Shepard Fairey “Sound and Vision”

In London for the music inspired show at Stolen Space, Street Artist Shepard Fairey introduces you to some of his influences in music and to Z-Trip, the living breathing musical component of the installation. Also, he shipped a thousand of his own records to the show. Dude. Also, a few street slaps at the end.

Johannes Mundinger: “La Bella Confusione”
April 25, 2024
You are inundated with information, disinformation, propaganda, images, videos, entreaties, siren calls, threats, promises, summaries, conjecture, stunning beauty, deliberate obfuscations, …Read More »
BSA Hits The North! – See You Soon in Belfast, Northern Ireland
April 23, 2024
We are excited to announce that BSA will be part of the exhilarating ‘Hit the North’ 2024 festival in Belfast! …Read More »
BSA Images Of The Week: 04.21.24
April 21, 2024
Welcome to BSA Images of the Week! “It’s the only time of the year when New York City smells good,” …Read More »
Barcelona Tributes for The Amazing SKE
April 18, 2024
Today, we pay tribute to an iconic figure from the Puerto Rican graffiti scene, Eliezer “SKE” Pagán Torres. Born on …Read More »
Elfo Declares “I’m a Figurative Painter”… and I’m the Queen of England!
April 16, 2024
Elfo, the ever-witty Italian street artist, strikes again with his latest work scrawled across an abandoned building in Italy. Known …Read More »
BSA Images Of The Week: 04.14.24 / “Return2Burn” in Hunts Point, Bronx
April 14, 2024
Welcome to BSA’s Images of the Week. We decided to dedicate this weekly survey to the artists of “Return 2 …Read More »
Martha Cooper and Seth in Kibera. Kenya: Part 2 / “We Are One”
April 11, 2024
Nestled within the bustling city of Nairobi, Kenya, Kibera is a testament to its inhabitants’ challenges and its collective indomitable …Read More »

Corporate Space, Happy Universal Shapes, and Additive Averaging

MOMO (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

MOMO (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

MOMO (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

MOMO (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

MOMO (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

MOMO (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

MOMO (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

MOMO (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

MOMO (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

MOMO (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

MOMO (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

Top Image >> LMNOPI tribute to Jessie Hernandez. A 17 year old girl shot and killed by the Denver police last week. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Varenka66 and James Bullough collaboration in Brooklyn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Varenka66 and James Bullough collaboration in Brooklyn. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Varenka66 and James Bullough collaboration in Brooklyn. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

EC13 new installation in El Padul, Spain. (photo © EC13)

MOMO at work for his solo exhibition at M. Carter Shop in Brooklyn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

MOMO at work for his solo exhibition at M. Carter Shop in Brooklyn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

MOMO. Installation in progress for his exhibition at M. Carter Shop in Brooklyn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

MOMO. Detail of the vitrine exhibiting the artist’s personal sketches, tools, diaries etc… At M. Carter Shop in Brooklyn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

MOMO. Detail of the vitrine exhibiting the artist’s personal sketches, tools, diaries etc… At M. Carter Shop in Brooklyn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

MOMO. Detail of the vitrine exhibiting the artist’s personal sketches, tools, diaries etc… At M. Carter Shop in Brooklyn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Buff Monster (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jilly Ballistic (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jilly Ballistic installation for Concrete To Data at the Steinberg Museum of Art. LIU. Long Island, New York. (photo © via iPhone Jaime Rojo)

Cake installation for Concrete To Data at the Steinberg Museum of Art. LIU. Long Island, New York. (photo via iPhone © Jaime Rojo)

UNO. Rome, Italy. (photo © UNO)

Mary Had A Little Lamb. Artist Unknown. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

FLOOD recalls the Sex Pistols anthem (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Agni (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. NYC Subway. January 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

D.I.Y. Cartography in the Rawest Section of Somerset

Petro’s sculpture on the left with Gasisus sculpture on the right. Aryz, Ron English, Malarko, Augustine Kofie, on the background wall. Filippo Minelli on the right wall. “Mapping The City” Somerset House. London, UK. (photo © Rafa Suñen)

Installation process shot. Gasius sculpture on the foreground. Installers working on Petros’ sculpture. Aryz, Ron English, Shepard Fairey, Malarko, Augustine Kofie, Shantell Martin, Husk MitNavn on the background wall. “Mapping The City” Somerset House. London, UK. (photo © courtesy A(by)P)

Chu. “Mapping The City” Somerset House. London, UK. (photo © courtesy A(by)P)

CHU “Buenos Aires” (photo © courtesy of A(by)P)

Detail of Gasius sculpture on the foreground. LA artist Cali Thornhill De Witt displays his flag pieces in the background. “Mapping The City” Somerset House. London, UK. (photo © Rafa Suñen)

Brad Downey. Face (photo © courtesy of A(by)P)

Installation process shot. Swoon. “Mapping The City” Somerset House. London, UK. (photo © courtesy A(by)P)

Installation process shot. Chu, Isaurao Huizar, Swoon and Mike Ballard. “Mapping The City” Somerset House. London, UK. (photo © courtesy A(by)P)

Installation process shot. El Tono working on his sculpture. “Mapping The City” Somerset House. London, UK. (photo © courtesy A(by)P)

El Tono. “Mapping The City” Somerset House. London, UK. (photo © Rafa Suñen)

Installation process shot. Herbert Baglione on the right. El Tono on the left with EGS on the background room. “Mapping The City” Somerset House. London, UK. (photo © courtesy A(by)P)

Installation process shot. Remed. “Mapping The City” Somerset House. London, UK. (photo © courtesy A(by)P)

Installation process shot. Sixe Paredes on the left. Filippo Minelli on Center. Remed and OX on the right background room. “Mapping The City” Somerset House. London, UK. (photo © courtesy A(by)P)

Installation process shot. Detail of Filippo Minelli’s map. “Mapping The City” Somerset House. London, UK. (photo © courtesy A(by)P)

Sixe Paredes with Detail of Filippo Minelli’s map. “Mapping The City” Somerset House. London, UK. (photo © Rafa Suñen)

Detail of Cleo Peterson map. “Mapping The City” Somerset House. London, UK. (photo © Rafa Suñen)

Augustine Kofie “Overcast Angeles” (photo © courtesy of A(by)P)

CHU “Buenos Aires” (photo © courtesy of A(by)P)

Will Sweeney “Cabott Square” (photo © courtesy of A(by)P)

Brad Downey. Face (photo © courtesy of A(by)P)

Caleb Neelon “Pickerville” (photo © courtesy of A(by)P)

Shepard Fairey “Berlin Tower” (photo © courtesy of A(by)P)

Jurne “Covalence” (photo © courtesy of A(by)P)

Mike Ballard “The Ultra Poet” (photo © courtesy of A(by)P)

Goldpeg “London is Burning” (photo © courtesy of A(by)P)

Cleon Peterson “The Return” (photo © courtesy of A(by)P)

Aryz “Map” (photo © courtesy of A(by)P)

OX “Paris” (photo © courtesy of A(by)P)

1. FOLIOLEAF GALLERY. “Bad Vibes” Rubin415 and David Head.

111 Front Street, Suite 226. http://folioleaf.com/

2. SIDE HUSTLE NYC: “By Day, By Night” Karoleen Decastro, Alyssa Gruen, Patrick Ramos, Jon Chen.

What is your sidehustle? In the ever more expensive NYC game, almost every creative we know has one – Check out this installation and on Sunday they will have another photo shoot. Plymouth Street Park Perimeter Fence. http://sidehustlenyc.com/

3. Dumbo Underfoot”. Karen Mainenti

Plymouth Street (between Main and Washington Streets) http://www.karenmainenti.com

DUMBO WALLS – All over the place

Two Trees and Lisa Kim have humanized the experience year long for people working/living/passing through DUMBO by curating some large mural installations by some great Street Artists over the past couple of years. Below are a few to keep your eyes open for on the streets.

4. DUMBO WALLS: Faith 47

5. DUMBO WALLS: dalEAST

6. DUMBO WALLS: El Tono

7. DUMBO WALLS: CAM

8. DUMBO WALLS: MOMO

9. DUMBO WALLS: Shepard Fairey

10. DUMBO WALLS: Stefan Sagmeister & Yuko Shimizu

11. SMACK MELLON:

12. Global Virtual Drawing Party: DADA featuring EN MASSE

At the Festival, creators from around the world will be encouraged to draw on DADA, while artists on site will respond using their iPads. The results will be projected live.

13. MIGHTY TANAKA: “Here and There”. Chris Otley, Herb Smith

111 Front Street, Suite 226.

http://folioleaf.com/

What is your sidehustle? In the ever more expensive NYC game, almost every creative we know has one – Check out this installation and on Sunday they will have another photo shoot.

Plymouth Street Park Perimeter Fence.

http://sidehustlenyc.com/

Plymouth Street (between Main and Washington Streets)

http://www.karenmainenti.com

Main Street Park

http://www.xambuilt.com

http://www.boswyckfarms.org